On Translations and Bilingualism

I have often thought long and hard about translations of poems, particularly of Urdu poetry into English. Dick Davis, a translator of Persian poetry into English has laid out the issues brilliantly in "On Not Translating Hafez" and created interesting poetry out of his own dilemma in "A Translator's Nightmare".

Urdu poetry's roots lie deep in Persian poetry, in terms of both style and content, and Dick's thoughts on translating Hafez apply equally to translating Urdu poetry.

However, the reality of bilingual affiliations still propels some of us to translate what we found beautiful in one language into another. I am somewhat less pessimistic about the possibilities than Dick.

Translations are essential. They fulfil many purposes...fostering an understanding of other languages and cultures to some extent; aiding understanding for those whose knowledge of the original language is limited but not non-existent: this applies particularly to Urdu poetry which has universal appeal across South Asia even amongst those whose first language is not Urdu; and quite simply, giving the authors their due in the form of international recognition.


K. C. Kanda's recent translations of Urdu poetry have filled a colossal void. Perhaps our inspiration should also come from the relentless attempts by people like Agha Shahid Ali who not only translated Urdu poetry but also introduced Persian / Urdu poetry forms such as the ghazal into English as original English poetry.



Translations aside, bilingualism can find expression in strange experimental ways:
'All words that exist have already been used;
Ab tum se kuchh kahoon to kis zubaan mein kahoon.'
[by Siyaah]


Similar transpositions of Persian and Hindi lines by Amir Khusro form interesting poetry at the time of Urdu's origins, as in:
'Zihale miskin makun tagaful
duraye naina banaye batiyaan'
[Listen to this sung beautifully by Chhaya Ganguli here, from the album Husn-e-Jaana composed by Muzaffar Ali]


What this means is that I will attempt translations of Urdu poetry in these pages, starting with Pirzada Qasim's "Aap Bohot Ajeeb Hain" into English...if nothing else, this will be an exercise in understanding Dick's dilemma more deeply.